Founder Of Red Lobster, William B. Darden, Dies

March 30, 1994|By Christine Shenot of The Sentinel Staff

William B. Darden, the Orlando restaurateur who founded the Red Lobster seafood chain, died Tuesday after an extended illness. He was 75.

Darden, described by friends and business associates as ''the true Southern gentleman,'' founded the chain after years of restaurant experience that began when he opened a Depression-era lunch counter in his hometown of Waycross, Ga., at the age of 19.

After running numerous restaurants in Florida, Darden opened the first Red Lobster in Lakeland in 1968.

He was inspired by the success of an Orlando seafood restaurant, Gary's Duck Inn, which he bought with some partners in 1963. The popularity of Gary's, a local landmark, gave him the idea of developing a no-frills seafood restaurant that would emphasize fast service and affordable prices, as well as quality.

The first Red Lobster was such a hit that Darden had to expand it a month later to accommodate the crowds. Over the next two years, he opened four additional restaurants in Central Florida before selling them to Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc. in 1970. Under that agreement, General Mills hired Darden to run the restaurants and established a restaurant division in Orlando.

Red Lobster has since become the world's largest dinner-house chain, with 614 restaurants in the United States and dozens more in Canada and Japan.

In the restaurant industry, Darden is widely credited with a major role in creating the thriving dinner-house segment. But colleagues say his contribution as a businessman must be measured beyond the success of Red Lobster, which last year had sales of more than $1.8 billion.

''I know of no other person who has touched so many lives in a positive way as Bill Darden,'' said Joe R. Lee, vice chairman of General Mills and a longtime business associate of Darden's.

Employees at General Mills Restaurants Inc., where Darden worked as president of Red Lobster and then as a consultant until he retired in 1983, echoed Lee's remarks. They described a man who was both tough and personable, who devoted as much energy and attention to inspiring others as to his day-to-day business decisions.

Dick Monroe, vice president of Red Lobster's public relations, recalled a time years ago when he was greeted by Darden on an elevator before they had been formally introduced.

''He knew things about me that probably my boss didn't even know,'' Monroe said. ''He just had a real people personality, and I saw that in the culture of the company.''

Darden is survived by his wife, Mary, and three sons, William B., Jr., Thomas Jethrow, and Matthew Green.